Karachi

ismail DilaWar

“Imay not leave Pakistan asa better hotelier, but Iwould leave Pakistan as amuch better human

being,” says Gordon James Gorman,General Manager of Avari Towers (AT),Pakistan’s leading and tallest 5-starhotel situated at the heart of this me-tropolis.

Gordon, an accomplished interna-tional hotelier of Scottish origin whotakes pride in leading what he describesthem as the world’s 400 best hotelstaffers and managers in Pakistan,talked at length about the challengesand opportunities faced by the hospital-ity industry in Pakistan in an exclusiveinterview with Pakistan Today lastweek. The hotelier, who enjoys a pro-found experience spanning over fourdecades in the hotel business, also de-tailed the prerequisites that make a hotelNumber 1.

Dwelling on the modern customerstendencies in hospitality industry, Gor-don said high power shower was thefirst on the list. “Our water pressure isthe best in Karachi. It is hot and, some-times, it even hurts like someone is tak-ing a full body massage.”

Connectivity, to Gordon, stands sec-ond when it comes to customers’ likingin a hotel. “They want to connect withtheir families, businesses and the wholeworld,” he said recalling that there wasno Wi-Fi in AT when he joined thehotel. “Now we have invested tremen-dously to offer in our rooms free andfastest broadband internet service need-ing no password!”

Other features of the AT, he under-lined, are a smoke-free atmosphere,complementary mini bar, seamlesscheck in and out, in-room check out,take-away snack packs, unlimited freemineral Nestle water, coffee makingmachines to make high quality coffeefor businessmen and what not. “It’s allabout service and the company’s values.It’s about delivering what you say wedeliver,” the GM said.

The customers’ trust and confiden-tiality were other major factors his man-agement was taking care of.

Gordon says the AT managementmaintains a Guest Satisfaction TrackingIndex (GSTI) under which daily feed-back is secured from at least 70 cus-

tomers. As per GSTI, some 97 percentof AT customers were appreciative ofthe hotel’s sanity, cleanliness and val-ues-oriented services.

Asked to give a breakup of hisguests, Gordon said it was 50-50. Halfof the guests were local while half wereforeigners. “It’s a nice mix. We havegreat guests,” he cheered. “Our sloganis: Avari Shares, Avari Cares”.

Queried how he was taking care ofthe security issues in AT, Gordon wasready to take this interviewer on a shorttrip of the hotel premises to witnessstate-of-the-art security equipment in-stalled around.

Backed by high-tech surveillancecameras and sophisticated detectiontools, highly trained retired army per-sonnel have been hired to guard thehotel against any incursion.

But, the most prominent feather,Gordon thinks, in his hotels’ cap is itshighly dedicated staff.

Pakistanis related to the hospitalityindustry now had a clear idea of whatexcellent customer care stands for, hesaid.

“We have great people who are hos-pitable, highly educated, talented, skil-ful, committed and loyal,” said Gordonadding “I feel humbled by these bravepeople.” “There are, of course, some lu-

natics here, but don’t forget they areeverywhere. In America, in UK, every-where,” said Gordon who feels the ballwas in the court of Pakistanis to “forcethe change”.

Concerned about the fast shrinkinghospitality industry in the terrorism-hitcountry, the AT general manager firmlybelieves that peace, tourism and pros-perity would return to Pakistan which,he says, is at the crossroads.

“You deserve to do better. You areunder performing as a nation,” said Gor-don citing negatives, like terrorism andextremism, decades-old mistrust on theLine of Control with India and preemp-tive drone strikes, as some of the majorsetbacks for the talented nation.

The present “lame duck” govern-ment, he said, was also keeping at bayinvestors from across the globe to signbusiness deals with a government whichwas undergoing a democratic transi-tional phase.

Uncertainties on politic-economicfront, he said, were taking a heavier tollon the hospitality industry in Pakistanwhere tourism was next to zero. Gordonsaid January (2013) was the worstmonth for his hotel in terms of business,thanks to Long March of Dr Qadri anddeadly blasts in Balochistan. “Thecountry was on the brink of anarchy,” he

deplored.However, great thing about the peo-

ple of Pakistan, who Gordon noticedhad been bleeding since partition in1947 and had now accustomed to it, wastheir “instant” recovery form a tragedy.“Tomorrow is another day. Let’s getback to work,” was approach of the ter-rorism-stricken Pakistanis, said Gordon.

On the flip side, Gordon said hishotel’s business during July-December(FY13) was recorded as best in last 28years.

According to Gordon, the hotelbusiness was a “tough game” in a tinymarket like Pakistan. “You have fourhotels present and the market is settled.Where are the fish?” Gordon lookedworried while saying hotel business inPakistan was depleting fats. “It contin-ues to shrink at an alarming rate of upto 20 percent,” he said.

The Scottish hotelier, however, eyesPakistan as an exciting investment op-portunity where businesses from acrossthe world had a noticeable presence.“They all are here and competing formega projects,” he added. Gordon saidPakistan was legging at least 20 yearsbehind the world in terms of infrastruc-ture development, something makingthe country an attractive market for for-eign infrastructure developers.

The talkative general manger of ATbelieves that the greatest risk for Pak-istan is the “brain drain” as a large num-ber of educated and skilled youth wereflying abroad along with their families.“It’s a sort of demographic time bomb.So many MBAs contact me and ask forhelp in obtaining visa to go abroad. Youare loosing the best of your bests,” Gor-don warned.

The Pakistani youth, he said, werenot ready to “gamble” in a countrywhere politico-economic uncertaintieshad left them devoid of a good leader-ship and even hope.

Gordon also appeared unique in hisview of the fulfillment of Corporate So-cial Responsibility (CSR) that, he said,many were using just to raise theirmoral profile in the newspapers.

At AT, however, the manager hasmade each of the 400 staffers a stake-holder in the job by creating a charityfund, Tips for Life Foundation. Of thetotal CSR money, Gordon said, 10 per-cent is allotted to the charity fund and90 percent is distributed among the ho-tels’ staffers as a tip or gratuity.

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busIness

BMonday, 4 March, 2013

howarD schneiDer

Washington Post

Money is returning to the euro zone. Jobs aren’t.That’s the conflicting message of a pair of reportson Friday that show why Europe is less of a threatto the world financial system than it was last yearbut is still no less of a drag on the global economy.

The money returning to the currency union isin the form of short-term investments by U.S.money market funds — often an important supplyof dollars and short-term funding for Europeanbanks.

When the big U.S. funds fled Europe in 2011,they intensified the problems faced by euro-zonebanks and heightened the sense that a crack-up ofthe euro zone was not just possible but even likely.

Fitch Ratings reported Friday that the top 10U.S. money-market funds — the large pools ofcash used as play-it-safe investments and moneymanagement tools — have nearly doubled theireuro-zone holdings since hitting a low last sum-mer. Euro-zone banks now account for 14.5 per-cent of top fund holdings, or nearly $100 billion,according to Fitch’s research. The 10 firms ana-lyzed by Fitch represent about 45 percent of theroughly $1.5 trillion U.S. money-market pool.

The turnaround in money-market investmentsin Europe is part of a general easing of the region’s

financial crisis. Though the confused results of arecent Italian election were a reminder that prob-lems could worsen again if governments are un-able to deliver on promised steps to control debtand revive economic growth, the region hasstepped back from what seemed a loomingbreakup.

What hasn’t yet turned around is the real econ-omy, which remains in a recession. The Eurostatstatistical agency reported on Friday that unem-ployment in the 17-nation currency zone roseagain in January, to 11.9 percent, compared with11.8 percent in December and 10.8 percent a yearago.

Joblessness in the larger 27-nation EuropeanUnion also rose a comparable amount, to 10.8 per-cent compared with 10.7 percent in December.

The figures mask a vast discrepancy amongcountries, from the low of 4.9 percent unemploy-ment enjoyed in Austria to 26 percent in Spain and27 percent in beleaguered Greece.

Officially, the region is in recession, meaninga major pillar of the world economy is contracting— making for more sluggish growth all around.

Euro-zone officials and other forecasters ex-pect growth to resume later this year. But recentestimates have also warned of a possibly more pro-tracted downturn and of little expectation that un-employment will fall fast.

Question time with Pakistan'slongest serving foreign GeneralManager of Avari Towers!

In a two-faced euro zone, financial conditions ease as joblessness rises

Saudi Shares RiseSecond Day onEconomic Outlook

Deema almashabi

BloomBerg

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index rosethe most in two weeks, led by Etihad Eti-salat Co., known as Mobily, after better-than-estimated data on U.S. consumerconfidence and manufacturing yesterday.Mobily, the second-largest telecommunica-tions operator in Saudi Arabia, climbed tothe highest level in more than six years. Na-tional Industrialization, the petrochemicalsmaker known as Tasnee, jumped the most intwo months. The Tadawul All Share Indexgained for a second day, adding 0.3 percentto 7,016.61 at the 3:30 p.m. close in Riyadh.The gauge had the biggest jump since Feb.16 on a closing basis as 69 shares advanced,49 declined and 41 were unchanged. “Gainsin the market today are still modest andbelow expectations and attributed mainly totelecom, petrochemical and banking sectorsfor various reasons including the positivesentiment in international capital marketsduring last week,” said Mohammed Al-Omran, a financial analyst and president ofthe Gulf Center for Financial Consultancyin Riyadh in an e-mailed response to ques-tions. Mobily, gained 1.3 percent to 75.5riyals and Tasnee increased 1.4 percent to29.1 riyals. U.S. stocks rose last week,sending the Dow Jones Industrial Averageto the highest level since 2007. Saudi Ara-bia’s stock exchange is the only PersianGulf bourse operating on Saturdays.

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busInessMonday, 4 March, 2013

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Joachim Kempin

The PC industry undoubtedly needs a sav-ior! Will Microsoft ultimately step up or isthis a lost cause, or beyond the company’schanging realm? Declining sales numbers,in a currently shaky economy, are not theonly reasons for grave concern. Hurting theindustry most, are ever advancing smart-phones and tablets, and the increasing useof cloud computing all of which are obso-leting traditional PC usage. Is the PC revo-lution finally devouring its own children asit endangers PC manufacturers and soft-ware developers alike? Observing the trou-ble Hewlett-Packard and Dell experiencetoday proves this is exactly what is happen-ing right before our eyes.

The market research firm, Gartner, re-cently predicted that smartphone sales willdouble over the next three years, tabletsales will triple, and PC sales might stayflat at best. This does not mean the PC isdead, but by 2016 tablet units sold couldexceed PC units bought. Obviously, youwould expect that Microsoft Corporation,which mainly lives and dies with PC soft-ware sales, should be the most interestedparty in revitalizing the industry. From1987 to 2000, I led one of its divisions andwas responsible for selling Windows to PCmanufacturers. During this formidable time

in Microsoft’s history, its frontrunner statuswas nearly unshakable and software andhardware partners supporting its ecosystemwere rewarded with impressive return-on-investments and growth opportunities.After the company lost its antitrust trial in2002, its fortunes changed profoundly.Since then, its leadership team has strug-gled mightily to cope with new market re-alities, stunningly missing the social mediaand mobile computing trends, and arrivingpainfully late at the cloud-services-party.

Its recent launch of Windows 8 wouldseem like a major step forward in reversingsome of the failures and curing the misfor-tunes of the last decade: It’s a robust plat-form that brilliantly extends a visuallystunning, uniform interface across desktopPCs, smartphones, tablets, notebooks, andeven servers. With this design coup, thecompany changed the rules on competitors,and simultaneously broadened the hard-ware base for its operating systems. Longoverdue—this bold new platform definitelyhas the potential to invigorate the ailing in-dustry and eventually entice the Facebookgeneration to rediscover PCs.

During its glory days, the companyunderstood how profoundly indebted itwas to its ecosystem, and the launch ofWindows 8 should have benefitted firstand foremost Microsoft’s hardware and

software partners. Instead, many of themnow feel betrayed because the companycontinues to move away from the partner-ship model that has served the industry sowell for so many years. In mimickingApple it designed its own tablet, SurfaceWindows RT, which will soon be fol-lowed by the more powerful Surface Win-dows 8 Pro. For me, adistinct sign that Microsoftcontinues to grapple withits destiny to the detrimentof its partners. The two bil-lion dollar loan in regard tothe Dell buyout further un-derlines how discriminato-rily Microsoft pickswinners and losers. At thiscritical juncture I expectedthe company to rememberits roots, and once againlead in collaboration withits partners through inno-vative software DNA toenergize and transform theindustry. Instead the oraclecoming from Redmond re-minds me of: I am the res-urrection and the life; hewho believes in me willlive even if he dies. Amen.Disturbed and disap-

pointed by Microsoft’s shift of direction,I agree with Rob Enderle, founder andprinciple analyst of the Enderle Group,that a rebirth of the PC will require aclever “better together” hardware design,working seamlessly with post-PC areamobile devices. Can Microsoft stillchange course and rise to the occasion or

does the industry have to patiently waitfor the long-overdue, pundit-predictedearthquake, which will eventually shakeup its executive suite?

Joachim Kempin is former SVP ofOEM Sales at Microsoft and author of Re-solve and Fortitude.

Jonathan alter

BloomBerg

IN a season of depressingbudget news, the worst mayhave been that a majority ofUS House Democrats signed a

letter urging President Barack Obamato oppose any benefit cuts to SocialSecurity, Medicare, Medicaid andother entitlements. That’s the lastthing we need.

To hold the line on harmful cuts todiscretionary spending, Obama andthe Democrats must educate the pub-lic about the necessity of entitlementreform. Otherwise, the poor and needy- - largely spared by the automatic re-ductions under sequestration -- willget hit much harder down the road.

Liberals are right to reject Repub-lican proposals that would slash so-cial-welfare programs even as theyrefuse to consider closing tax loop-holes for the wealthy. And I agreethat the sequestration will cut into thebone of important government func-tions and investments in the future.

That makes two more reasons tostart talking seriously about how wewill pay for the insanely expensiveretirement of the baby boomers.

How expensive? Anyone reachingretirement age in the next 20 years(including me) will take more thanthree times as much out of Medicareas he or she contributed in taxes. By2030, the U.S. will have twice asmany retirees as in 1995, and SocialSecurity and Medicare alone will con-sume half of the federal budget, withthe other half going almost entirely todefense and interest on the nationaldebt. It’s unsustainable.

Saying Goodbye If Democrats don’t want to talk

about these programs, they can saygoodbye to every other pet program.We can preserve Medicare in amberonly at the expense of investments inprekindergarten programs or cancerresearch. To reform entitlements, weshould assess what these programswere meant to do in the first place.

For starters, Presidents FranklinD. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnsondidn’t call them entitlements. JimmyCarter’s administration borrowed theterm from “Anarchy, State andUtopia,” a 1974 book by Robert Noz-

ick, a political philosopher. “Entitle-ment” sounds selfish and at oddswith the dignity and peace of mindthat Social Security and Medicare aremeant to provide. It distorts the ani-mating idea behind these programs,which is social insurance.

FDR didn’t have strong feelingsabout benefit levels, retirement agesor eligibility standards. He focusedon what he called guaranteed return.By that he meant that having paidinto the system through a kind of in-surance premium (though in fact itwas merely a payroll tax), Americansshould rest easy that some moneywould be there for them if they livedlong enough to need it. The wholepoint was “insurance against need.”“Guaranteed return” and “insuranceagainst need” should continue to bethe two guiding principles of social-insurance reform.

“Guaranteed return” means noprivatization or voucher system forthese programs. FDR would havestrongly opposed President GeorgeW. Bush’s plan to allow Social Secu-rity contributions to be invested inthe stock market. He thought subject-ing retirement income to what hecalled “the winds of fortune” was abreach of the social contract. Imaginewhat would happen to someone whoretired in 1929 or 2008? No guaran-teed return.

“Insurance against need” sug-gests keeping the focus on poor and

middle-class recipients who dependon the money most. That meansmeans-testing, giving wealthier re-tirees less. FDR, who favored highlevels of taxation on the rich, wouldhave been fine with taxing their ben-efits, too, as long as they were guar-anteed to get at least something back.

Old Argument Liberals generally oppose means-

testing social-insurance programs.For decades they’ve argued that if thewealthy don’t get a heaping portionof Social Security and Medicare, itwill undermine the political supportof the programs and turn them into aform of welfare. Once that happens,the theory goes, the programs will beended. Like the word entitlements,this hoary idea should be retired. So-cial Security and Medicare are nowso deeply in the marrow of the Amer-ican middle class that they will neverbe seen as welfare. The question isnot whether to reform them, but how.

Roosevelt structured Social Secu-rity as an insurance program with“contributions” through the tax code“so no damn politician can ever takeit away.” He didn’t specify anythingabout the level of taxation or cost-of-living increases, which weren’t anissue in the 1930s but would becomeone shortly after World War II.

Today, only the first $110,000 inincome is subject to the 7.65 percenttax that pays for Social Security andMedicare. Lifting the cap to higher

income levels (say $250,000 or$400,000) could eventually generatehundreds of billions of dollars.

Republicans consider this a taxincrease. That’s only true outside thecontext of these programs. Thechange could be structured so that noone paid in more than actuarial tablessay they would take out. That wouldstill raise billions and be consistentwith the idea of paying for your ownretirement if you can afford it.

For lifting the cap to have anychance, it would have to be matchedby reforms such as adopting thechained consumer-price index, anew way to measure cost-of-livingadjustments that Obama apparentlyfavors. Liberals oppose chained CPIbecause it would theoretically resultin lower benefits. But less frequentcost-of-living increases aren’t thesame as cuts, especially if the cur-rent system is, as many experts be-lieve, based on an inaccurateassessment of inflation.

Maybe there are better ideas forreforming social insurance. The pointis, we better start talking about them.Otherwise, grandpa and grandma andtheir fellow Grateful Dead fans aregoing to eat all the food on the table.

(Jonathan Alter is a BloombergView columnist and the author of“The Promise: President Obama,Year One.” The opinions expressedare his own.)

The Road Ahead (or is it behind us?)

Why Democrats Must GetSmart on Entitlements

Lahorites take GreenValley Supermarketto their heartsLAHORE: New Food & Home sections attractcrowds of customers. Green Valley at Mall ofLahore features the largest range of hi-end localand imported products at affordable prices. GreenValley recently inaugurated New Food & HomeSections at its flagship store in Mall of Lahore. Thepremium supermarket attracted large crowds ofcustomers and took both the management andthe shoppers by surprise. Almost doubling itspreceding size and now covering an enormousarea of 23,000 square feet it offers a completeshopping experience truly unmatched with anyother retailer in Pakistan. Green Valley hadalready established itself as the first choice forgrocery shopping which prompted Bahria Town toinvest further in developing most extensivesections based on toys, books, electronics,technology, baby care, home décor, tableware,cookware, house hold and many more. GreenValley has truly redefined the shopping experiencewith unique offerings such as freshly bakedorganic breads spiked with imported ingredients,food hall offering local and international hot mealsand the ability to combine the convenience of asupermarket with the expertise and service of aspecialist shop. Press release

LESCO innovatingthrough technologyLAHORE: To meet the challenges of rapidtechnological advancements, Lahore ElectricSupply Company has also incorporated latesttechnology in its operations to optimize theefficiency of its human resource and extendmaximum facilities to its over 2.6 million valuedconsumers in Lahore, Okara, Sheikhupura andKasur. To make the best use of technology forimproved customer service, LESCO established anetwork of mobile customer service consisting ofseven mobile vans fitted with state of the artcomputerized system of bill corrections andduplicate bills. It facilitated millions of consumers,particularly of remote areas to get all their billingcomplaints resolved at their doorsteps. Anotherstep towards technological excellence is managingenterprise resource planning system in LESCO.Through these latest technological solutions,complete restructuring and reorganization ofLESCO will be carried out and all departments andprocedures will be streamlined by linking themthrough LAN and VAN (Computer Networking) fortransparency, speedy operations and cutting downlaborious task of unnecessary documentation.Another significant and very modern projectintroduced by LESCO is “Remote MeteringSystem”. As a pilot project of ten GSM operated,software installed meters are being fixed invarious locations of Lahore. Press release

CORPORATE CORNER

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